I-Team: 'Free' online contests often come with stipulations

Contests often solicit emails, can offer pricey items to buy

A Baltimore County woman who was enticed by an online pet photo contest led to an 11 News I-Team investigation that shows that free online contests aren't always free, and they could lead to spam for friends and family.

Kristen Williamson has at least two loves: photography and her cat, Metsuki. When she came across an online pet photo contest, she said she was interested in sending in one of her favorite photos of him.

The contest, called the Great American Photo Contest, is free to enter, and the winner is determined monthly by online votes. The prize is $1,000, and there are other contests on the site, including one for proud parents to show off their kids.

But Williamson said she had some concerns when she found complaints online about the contest and that voters had to give up personal information to cast a vote.

Williamson contacted the 11 News I-Team, and reporter Mindy Basara decided to enter a photo her of family's hermit crab, Samantha, to check it out. While it wasn't the best of photos, she was soon bombarded with emails from Great American, one of which said, "Forward this to everyone you know so they can vote for your picture."

Basara said if she had forwarded it, her friends and family would have received a photo of the hermit crab, asking them to vote so that she might win the contest -- but they had to enter their email addresses and cellphone numbers. Once they cast their votes, they would have agreed to receive daily emails from Great American, according to the fine print at the bottom of the page.

Despite the fact that the hermit crab got just one vote (Basara's), another email claimed, "Samantha's photo has drawn the attention of our photo-judging committee and selected to be entered into the $10,000 editor's choice photo contest." Basara said it cost $19.95 to enter.

Basara reported that another email said Samantha has been selected for The Most Adorable Pets in America book. The I-Team decided to order it and was charged $81.95 with shipping. They were told it could take up to five months for delivery.

Avi Rubin, a computer security expert at Johns Hopkins University, said sometimes the goal of an online contest is to collect email addresses.

"Often times, businesses will go to great lengths to obtain email addresses. These are actually things they can sell. There's a market for live email addresses that go to real people, and so the customer and the user needs to be wary of requests for their email address," he said.

The I-Team contacted the owner of the Great American Photo Contest, Josh Gillon, who said the company doesn't sell email addresses. However, he said when someone signs up to participate, they agree to allow Great American to share their personal information with third parties and receive advertising from their sponsors.

That was written in the fine print, Basara reported.

Gillon said Great American is a legitimate contest and has awarded entrants more than $200,000 over the past six years.

Basara said the 84-page book the I-Team ordered was delivered four months later, and her pet was on page 66. She said she could have included information about her pet for $15, but chose not to, even though a lot of other people did.